Rosemary McCarney, President & CEO Plan Canada

As president and CEO of Plan Canada, Rosemary works to improve the lives of children and their communities in almost 50 countries across the globe. McCarney has over twenty years of international development experience, an MBA, and a law degree. Combining her passions for international development, law, and business, McCarney has been the source of major developments within Plan Canada, increasing its contribution on a global scale. Her accomplishments include backstopping the organization’s sector-leading growth in revenues, Plan’s expansion into Darfur, and the Because I am a Girl initiative. Join Rosemary to hear her experiences spanning from Wall Street to West Africa.

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Highlights

• You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone, take risks, and have a high tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Package what you want to do together and find out how to make a living from it. If the job you want doesn’t exist, create it.
• Listen to your body. A year off gave my body time to rest and my mind time to wander. That’s when I decided I wanted to be an organizational woman.
• Don’t let people pigeonhole you – and don’t pigeonhole yourself.
• Change is powerful and two-sided; that’s why you expect the unexpected. Whether the world changes on you or you change the world, it’s all possible.
  

  Bio

  Rosemary McCarney is President and CEO of Plan International Canada Inc. (Plan Canada), an international, humanitarian, child-centred development organization. Founded in 1937 as Foster Parents Plan, Plan now works in more than 45 developing countries helping children, their families and communities to achieve lasting improvements in their lives.Rosemary has had an extensive international career in law, business and the not-for-profit sector. She has worked in over 50 countries and is frequently asked to address public policy concerns on radio and television. Prior to joining Plan Canada she was the Executive Director of Street Kids International.

  Rosemary received her law degree from the University of Western Ontario and her MBA from Case Western Reserve University. She has taught both international and constitutional law. Rosemary has worked in international economic development with the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, USAID and CIDA, as well as other governments and UN bodies focused on institution building, gender issues, and micro finance.

  Rosemary has been a member of the Board of Directors of numerous private sector, not-for-profit and community organizations. She is currently a Board member of the Canadian Institute for Work and Health, and the Advisory Board of the Canada US Law Institute.